Sunday, December 28, 2014

Stats:
Slightly less than 20 pounds.
5 teeth
Can completely clap, now!
Got her first bang trim. . . it's uneven, but I did my best so whatever!
Wears 9-12 month onsies, and 18 month pants. My favorite are the knit skinnies from Target!
Gwen can pull herself up on something, and then transfer to holding something else. That may make more sense with an example. She can pull herself up on the couch, and then hold onto our knees and move!
Mini just got her first foot measurements; she's a 4.5 wide. Our chunky has chunky feet :)
Got her first dog.
Still working on walking.
Gwendle sleeps through the night. She'll wake up a few times, but puts herself back to sleep, so it counts!
LOVES foods. Today we tried pineapple and pepperonis, and this girl was in HEAVEN. We got a huge bucket of cheeseballs for Christmas, and I have been giving halves to Gwen. She loves them. Also, she loves raisins, goldfish crackers, cheese, and her favorite is still meat and beans.
Her milk appetite has gone down. I think this is because of the amount of food-food she's eating.

Gwen loves pulling off her socks. If we ever forget to put shoes over her socks, Gwen will pull them off and start cackling and snorting in joy!
She learned how to open-mouth kiss, and every time we kiss her, she opens up and says, "Aaaaaawww!"
She loves singing. If anyone is singing, she'll start. When singing stops, she'll start singing to get the crowd going again.
Gwen loves pulling books out of the book case. This is a feat because she pulls out my huge dental hygiene books. She is a strong lady.

We love Gwen so, so much. Our hearts are full of pride, but it's also humbling to have such a sweet girl straight from heaven. We love her so much. Each day is better than the day before, and I'm so thankful to be her mother.

She sometimes likes Fred, but not if he touches her.

See! He walks away and she likes him! ha!

Eating her new Hot Wheels.

She wanted to climb the pillow mountain I made.

Jake is making them touch. . .

HAHA! Puppy love.

When we play, I lay on the floor. Now she climbs on me and scratches my face. It's still fun.

Gwen got to have two fun play dates when Charlie and Van came over!

Pre-uneven-bang-trim.

She loves eating the edges of her blankies.

Gwen and Curtis. Reunited.

I barely caught this, hence all the blur. Curtis and Gwen, Clayton and Ren.

Shopping with Susie and Heidi Valdes. We wanted to see Gwen with dark hair. She was not impressed.

We recently made a lot of trips to Petsmart. Gwennie loves the birds.

OUR FRIENDS CAME TO TOWN! Jake blinked, but oh well. We LOVE the Christensens, and can't wait to live by them.

Our Christmas was great! We love the holidays and the time we get to spend together. We got our house lights up, and then went in search of a tree. WalMart was our first and last stop! They had beautiful, freshly cut trees for a few bucks, so we just picked one up.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Valdes' home for dinner. We love them so much. They are family to us, and we are so thankful to have met them! Susie and Heidi gifted Gwennie a lovely and soft doll! We named her that night, but we had so many ideas that I don't remember what we actually decided on.

After we left the Valdes', we got started on our new traditions! The girls opened new pajamas--Gwen and I matched, she judged me--and Jake got new basketball shorts and a shirt. Our house has laminate flooring nearly everywhere, so J and I both wanted and got new slippers. The warmth of our toes has reached new heights! Back to the tradition, I decided that it would be fun to do a movie night with the family on Christmas Eve, so we are going to get a new movie each year! This year, we unwrapped The Maze Runner! We gave Gwen a bath, read from Luke 2, and then did our normal routine and put Gwen in bed. Once she talked herself to sleep, we popped some corn, got hot chocolate ready and started the movie. It was so much fun, and I think this tradition is going to be a good one for years and years to come!

On Christmas morning, Mini woke up around 7:15, so we ate breakfast and then looked at the treasures we got! From the Ellsworth grandparents, we got treats galore, a children's nativity which will be out all year, playdough, a purple Hot Wheels car, nail polish, and a calendar! The Denham grandparents gifted Gwen a standup play station with lots of fun noises and things for Gwendle to touch! I got Jake a collar for the puppy we were planning on getting, and Jake got me a makeup bag and a frame to put one of our new family pictures in. Finally, we gifted Gwen with a beautiful doll from Pockets with Posies. She likes to look at her doll, but she is on a shelf until Gwen is ready to play with her. Don't get me wrong; this doll WILL be played with, but Gwen is more interested in learning to stand unassisted :)

We were able to go down to Mesa to visit with my family, specifically Berit, Josh, Curtis, Clayton, and sweet, new baby Ren. Bear got the cutest pictures and I managed to snap one before everyone moved, but I don't know where it is. Nonetheless, it happened!

We met Santa at our previous ward's Christmas party. She loved him, but she judged his outfit.

This last Saturday, we picked up our newest family member, Fred! His name is Fredrick Diggory. He is the brother of Cedric Diggory, who died at the hand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Fred was so upset about his brother's death that he accidentally permanently transfigured himself into a puppy. We accept him for his magical skills, and he accepts our muggle genes, so we will be happy together.

Fred is a great dog. He does well in the kennel, he is starting to understand going to the bathroom outside, and he's bad at understanding why we don't like when he bites Gwen's ears! All in all, he is great. Gwen and Fred are going to be great friends. He's already tried giving her rides places, but we stopped that quick because she's 4 times his size. HA!

Gwennie's Christmas Sunday outfit

Aunt Buni sent us this! It's Jake as a baby! Now he believes me when I say she looks like him!

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

I've only been on break from school for a week, but this week has been amazing! I've been able to wake up with Gwen, make us all breakfast, send Jake off to work, play, nap, play, and make dinner, do dishes, give Gwen her bath and put her to bed. It's been so much fun to JUST be a mother and a wife, versus adding the student part in to the mix. I am SO happy.

Jake and I were talking in bed last night, and he was saying thank you for making his life so easy this week with all the homemaking I've been doing, and it was dear to my heart. I always knew I wanted to be a mother, but I never thought I would desire it the way I do. While I do plan on working and using my skills as a dental hygienist, I don't see myself doing it full time while my babies are little.

I love watching Gwen learn to walk. I love watching her eat scrambled eggs. I cannot get enough joy out of watching her eat beans and meat so happily. I love that Mini and I can play games like hide and seek, and I love that she will follow my voice if I'm in the bathroom. I love being the person she complains to when she's tired. I love her sweet voice.

I love being home when my husband gets home. I love that he can walk into our home and immediately relax. I love that our home invites a spirit of love and eternity in. Our home may not be immaculately cleaned from top to bottom, but the toys that are out show that we've played. The dishes in the sink mean we've eaten well. Our shedding Christmas tree shows how we've learned to shake it!

I'm trying so hard to relish in every thing this girl does during the month break I have. I love the simplicity of the life we're living.

I love school, and I will always be thankful for my education and the skills I've learned, but I am so, so thankful for this break.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

We love Thanksgiving. It's our favorite because it gives us good breaks from work and school, and we get to see all our family!

This year, Meredith and I decided we would run the Gilbert turkey trot. I found out about it from a blog I read called 71 Toes. That blog is incredible. Anyway. So we started Thanksgiving Day off with an early-ish morning run. It was out in the San Tan valley, and we could see the Gilbert Temple spire from the course. I definitely think the Gilbert turkey trot has the best tshirts ever.

That afternoon began with lunch with the Uchytils. Aunt Roxanne is a great host, and we were fed very well. We caught up with them, and they all met Gwennie! We left before games got started because Gwen was in dire need of a nap(she tends to strike them when we aren't at home).

After we got back to my parents' home (and took naps, hallelujah!) we began dinner just as more family came! We had our Yuma Claridges, and it was so great! I don't even know how she did it, but Meredith did the turkey trot, made desserts, and dinner, and still looked like such a fox! It was great. I'm definitely not even close to being that amazing, so I just ate everything that I could and called it a day.

I don't remember if it was Black Friday or Saturday that this happened, but the Claridges, Meredith, Mom and I all went out to eat at Sweet Tomatoes. It was my first time there, and it was so fun! It's a buffet, but it's more healthy than a normal buffet. They had an ice cream machine with vanilla and pumpkin swirl, and I was all over that. SO many funny things happened there! Jeremy gave Gwen ice cream, and she loved it. Cordelia didn't get Malcolm his ice cream right, so she had to do it again. . . just so many funny things! It was a treat to be able to hang out like that. Living in Flagstaff is amazing, but we do miss our families, so holidays are excellent!

We got to see one of my very best friends during the break as well. Kyli and I's friendship is forever long, and we haven't seen each other since her wedding (I think. . .). She's expecting her first baby, and it was so great to see her 1. in general, and 2. with a belly! She looks amazing, and we love her and her husband. We also love Baby Wright.

We are so blessed. Gwendolyn is the greatest blessing to us. I are thankful for her every day, and I'm thankful for the blessing I have of sharing eternity with Jacob. J has a great job that allows me to stay home and be with Gwen, and he is so wonderful with my school schedule. He is always there to pick up my slack when school is my focus. Not only am I thankful for my little family unit, but I am thankful for my parents, siblings, and my nieces and nephews. I love the people they are. We ALL have our fine qualities, but my family know my less-than-desirable traits, and they love me right through them! We are just so blessed.

Pre-Turkey Trot. We all dressed too warm this entire trip.

Gwen is a vampire. She sees the sunlight and shrivels up.

Post nap!

Jake is trying out a new smile here.

This one is blurry, but it's my favorite because look. at. my. hair. I'm a blurry mermaid.